The Importance of Community
Community is something I am so so passioante about; God has really shown me in the past couple years what it means to be in relationship with him and the beauty of being in imperfect relationship with his people. He’s shown me his grace and kindness and how to extend that to people around me!! He so great and awesome..
My Story with Friendship
I was once a person who did not like to share the depths of who I was and I always thought I would have to fix myself up so that I’d be enough for people and honestly felt the same way about receiving God’s love. This came mostly because of my sin with wathing pornagrpahy it really turns you in on yourself.. So I was really bitter and would have much rather have kept my distance from people. I was typically angry at God because I didn’t have deep relationships in my life and as an enneagram 4 deep relationships are important to me. What I didn’t realize was that I had to chose to deepen my relationships, this wouldnt just magically happen. if you’d like to read how God redeemed me in this area of my life, read here.
So once I got to college and realized I no longer wanted to live like every other college student, I surrendered my life back to Christ.. Over time my heart changed and the ways I looked at people changed along with it. I realized how much we all need the grace that Christ freely gives us.
This is what happens when we surrender our life to Him..
God Reconciles Us Back to Him
So what happens first is that God reconciles us back to Him. He did this for me as I learned more about who He was through good theological teaching.. I can’t press the importance of being in a church that is truly biblically grounded.. Many places are very topical and don’t talk about the things that matter within the biblical story line and the lives we live today.
You may think that the first time God reconciles us to him is through the death of Jesus.. But actually it starts way back in the garden.. After Adam and Eve have sinned, God hints at the coming of someone who would diminishing of the evil one.. He promises that the curse of th enemy will end “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Gen 3:15). This is a hint towards the coming of Jesus Christ way back in the garden, Jesus eventually comes to save us from ourselves and has righted our relationship with God.
In the time god was reconciling me to him he showed me that He wasn’t a distant father (I talk about this more in a recent podcast, “It’s a heart thing“) and He truly cared for what was going on in my life.. He started to remind me that there was more to my life than what I could ever imagine.. I truly never imagined myself starting a blog or hosting workshops like I am now. I never imagined myself being surrounded by people who love and cherish me. God made people just for the person I am now and who I will be in the future.
Through God reconciling me to himself, I found myself at his feet over and over..humbly surrendering. I began to learn more and more about His word and let the truth of it all wash over me.
God Reconciles Us to Each Other
Don’t think for one second that God doesn’t want you to have good community.. because He does!! through community we are tested in relationship with imperfect people. We learn to love and trust each other through difficulty and triumphant seasons. Community is a good way for us to be tested and grow in faith. Being in community can be difficult but so worth it. When I think about community I think of the story of Mary and Martha as Jesus is coming into town.
Luke 10:38-42 New Living Translation (NLT)
Jesus Visits Martha and Mary
38 As Jesus and the disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem, they came to a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. 39 Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he taught. 40 But Martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, “Lord, doesn’t it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me.”
41 But the Lord said to her, “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! 42 There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.”
I’m sure Jesus wouldn’t have minded if Martha sat down at his feet as well and dinner wasn’t prepared so quickly.. But she was distracted by getting things done and that made her angry that Mary was not helping.
We tend to think that community has to be this perfect put together thing, but truly authentic community is created in the messy and mundane moments.
Our differences bring us together.. We all have different qualities to bring into community.. Martha could very well learn from Mary that its alright to slow down and simply be with people. Some of us like to be working and some of us just like to sit and listen.. Honestly we need to be both. We need our differences to make deep connections with people.. Our differences can truly bring us together. This is a really simple example of how our differences could bring us together, so I hope you get the point.
God Reconciles Us to the Church
It’s much easier for God to use a group of people in the body of Christ.. Rather than an individual trying to be everything all on their own.
Many many of us have been hurt by the church.. It can be tempting to never step into a church again, but I promise you will be a better person surrounded by like minded women and men!! Find a place that is theologically sound and a place where you can grow.. This may mean doing some research on the place you will be attending or trying our to insure that what is being shared is truth. Finding a place that is good for you may take time and that’s alright.
Being part of a body of people helps so that you do not become separated from the work that God is doing within his kingdom… its much easier for God to use a group of people in the body of Christ.. Rather than an individual trying to be everything all on their own.
Being apart of a nourishing body of believers really helps us to live a life more like Christ!! As a body we are all separate limbs and body parts coming together to bring Jesus to this hurting world!! When we come together with our neighbors in Christ, we are better able to accomplish what we are sent to do, which is to glorify Him.
TIPS TO BUILDING COMMUNITY
Surrender your life and will to God!! This is the first step in reconciling yourself to Him.. God doesn’t walk away from us. We are the ones that drift away from him when we follow the world. He’s always presenting us with ways to come back to Him.
Continue to seek His will over your own. This isn’t a one and done thing. There are so many distractions in the world and we need daily, sometimes even moment to moment, reminders to seek His will over our own.
Be open to meeting new people.. This means getting out of your comfort zone and randomly speaking to people. This is how I became apart of the bible study I am in now. I was in a boutique and a lady was talking about a bible study shes apart of and I jumped right in and asked about it! What makes this even more awesome is this was a few weeks after being graduated from college and I had honestly thought I wouldn’t find any community being at home and BOOM God showed up when I least expected it.
To be honest spend time with yourself. it brings glory to God to take care of who you are and spend time nurturing the passions He’s placed inside of you. Learn how to be alone and have fun doing things you like to do. For me this is sitting in a coffee shop or grabbing food from somewhere or being in nature.. Ahh man I love nature its one way God really speaks to me. We sometimes need time alone so that we are charged enough to care well for others!
Ask god to show you the things that make you unique in His kingdom.. If you’re thinking how does this make me better in community!? Read on.. When God places unique gifts inside of us, they are most of the time, things we can’t do on our own if we want the world to experience the fullness of what God has for us. As I said before, bringing glory to God requires us to step out and lean into leading alongside His other chosen people. Having to work with others really sets you up for challenges and enables you to extend grace to others.
I hope you enjoyed these tips!! Let me know of something that you already do or are going to implement into your life down in the comments!!